


A Flavorful Afternoon

by hibiren



Series: Jay's Gladnis Collection [19]
Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Cooking, Cute, Dessert & Sweets, Fluff, Food, Fun, Games, Gentle Kissing, Gladnis, Gladnis Week, Hot Weather, Ice Cream, Kissing, M/M, Summer, Summer Gladnis Week 2019
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-12
Updated: 2019-08-12
Packaged: 2020-08-19 18:22:10
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,019
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20214217
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hibiren/pseuds/hibiren
Summary: [For Summer Gladnis Week, Day One!] On a particularly hot day, Ignis decides to bring out the new flavors of ice cream he'd been working on by giving Gladio a bunch of samples to test - which turns into a fun guessing-game of "what flavor is this?" and then a taste of something a little bit more...





	A Flavorful Afternoon

**Author's Note:**

> For Summer Gladnis Week, Day One! I chose the prompt "Ice Cream"! I'm so excited! This is a gladnis reimagining of an idea I've had stashed away for months centered around Ignis making ice cream aaaaaa
> 
> Written while listening to [this very lovely cover of Itsumo Nando Demo from Spirited Away](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qXXbTwL79R0)! I've been in a very Ghibli-music mood lately if you can't tell lol

“I have about six different flavors of ice cream I’ve finished, would you like to taste them?” Ignis asked, gesturing in the general direction of their freezer. Gladio, sprawled against the cool stone of their countertop, raised an eyebrow in interest. After attempting to run out to the store for more bottled water (which he had to fight everyone in the near vicinity for thanks to the continued onslaught of heatwave-worthy weather) Gladio had just tossed his shirt onto the floor after he’d returned, pressed himself to the granite, and refused to move from that spot, even when Ignis set a glass of ice water near his hand.

“Sure, I can taste test for you. Let’s make it a game again, huh? I’ll close my eyes and try to guess what flavor it is. As long as it’s not anything pineapple again this time.”

“Of course, love, and only if you promise not to fall asleep on me mid-game, hm?” Ignis chided, offering a gentle pat on his lover’s lightly sweating shoulder, tracing fine lines of the tattooed feathers as he withdrew his touch. He could have sworn he caught just the briefest glimpse of a shudder from the collapsed man, but smiled and shrugged it off as he opened the freezer and went to work setting up the sample cups.

Each of the six flavors was different enough, but leave it to Ignis, of course, to put something interesting into each one; he’d been experimenting in flavor combinations all week, writing down each in his pocket-size notebook when it came to him. There was either a satisfied, neat checkmark to signify its passing his taste-test, or a scrawled X where the idea was scrapped. These days there were more checks than X’s, which made Ignis subtly happy. Even more so now he could hone his tastes further; he could make a little more progress every day. Learning to accommodate the unexpected - and at times surprising - pickiness of his partner’s tastes proved an interesting challenge.

Gladio rolled over onto his back and braced against his elbows as he turned around, sliding the barstool back so he was in a more comfortable position. Obediently, he kept his eyes closed as Ignis stepped close with a small tray of six bowls, each with a small spoon and a sampling of the six experimental ice cream flavors.

“First flavor,” Ignis announced, smiling slyly, confident that Gladio would at least be a bit mystified by the combination he’d created. Being unable to see the color of the ice cream would likely assist him in this case, for an added aspect to the challenge. “And I can assure you, none of these contain pineapple. I did remember this time.”

“Great.”

With a chuckle, Gladio opened his mouth and Ignis spooned the sample onto his tongue. A confused ‘hm’ left Gladio as he closed his mouth, his eyebrows lowering as he concentrated on attempting to discern the flavors against his tongue. After a long moment of silence, Gladio gave his answer:

“Is this… passionfruit and strawberry?”

“Very good! I’m impressed. On to the next flavor, then?” Ignis asked, preparing the next spoon.

The second flavor took Gladio longer to guess, and he frowned as he started to speak, closed his mouth, asked for a second sample, savored that for a while, and finally stuck his tongue out in defeat when he temporarily admitted defeat. “Can I have a hint?”

“You had difficulty with this one last time too,” Ignis said simply, wondering if that would be enough of a hint without being a giveaway.

A palm slapped against the counter in realization, and Ignis flinched in surprise, but quickly recovered as Gladio blurted, “Oh! This one… it’s coconut, mango, and… orange blossom honey. Right?”

“Yes, you remembered. Excellent.” Ignis smiled and kissed Gladio, a little bit of a ‘reward’ for his correct guesses. Gladio’s tongue swiped against Ignis’ lips a bit greedily, but Ignis was quick to pull away and replace the warmth of his mouth with the cold sweetness of another spoon of ice cream.

Gladio managed to correctly guess raspberry coffee, black tea and blackberry, and melon-mint; the last flavor was the one that stumped him the most. After a third spoon, Ignis asked, “You seem like you want to give up?”

“No! Not giving up,” Gladio said, struggling to keep his eyes closed; it was very apparent by now how much he wanted to peek, even to just get a hint at the ice cream in the last remaining bowl. “Can I _please_ have a hint?”

“Alright. It’s something I’ve considered using in the past, but I’d never found a successful combination for. I can’t forsee you knowing exactly what it is, unless you remember the seeds we procured at the farmer’s market last season.”

Gladio frowned, putting his head in his hands to prevent himself from peeking. “Man, I… I can’t guess. I have no idea. You know how many days we come home with seed packets; we have so many we need a drawer just for them!”

With a cheerful laugh, Ignis simply set the bowls aside, rested his hands over Gladio’s and pulled them away from his concealed face, wearing a warm and confident smile as he moved. Gladio finally opened his eyes then, blinking to adjust to the bright daylight of their apartment’s interior.

“It’s alright. You got most of them, which I think is an accomplishment considering you correctly guessed one out of four previously. The plant in question was English Lavender; the accompanying flavors were vanilla bean and a splash of rum extract.”

“Oh, that’s a good one! Yeah, you got me. Oh well! Next time, I’m gonna get ‘em all right.” Gladio leaned forward in the barstool, sweeping Ignis into his arms and planting a kiss on his lover’s lips; lavender lingered between their tongues even though Ignis eventually managed to pull away to clean up the discarded bowls, smiling and humming happily at the lovely distraction from the heat wave - just for a while escaping the weather and the frantic bustle of the city.

**Author's Note:**

> Happy Summer Gladnis Week~! I hope I can do more than just for the first day, I have so many ideas!


End file.
